CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The New England Regional office of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) expresses deep concern that the immigration sweeps which recently took place in six Swift & Company meatpacking plants in six states represent an egregious attack on the right to work, and whose sole effect serves to stir up unfounded negative sentiments towards migrants and divide working-class families and migrant communities. Furthermore, some press reports indicate that less than 5% of those detained were charged with identity theft raising serious questions about the use of identity theft as a principle motive behind the raids.

This coming weekend, WBCN Boston is planning to broadcast an event that degrades and humiliates homeless individuals for the perverse amusement of the listening audience. The AIDS Housing Corporation is calling on concerned persons to contact WBCN to urge them not to broadcast this disgusting spectacle.

All of the Massachusetts Democrats in Congress joined in the racist lynch mob voting for the blood of an innocent black man. They were John Olver, Richard Neal, James McGovern, Barney Frank, Martin Meehan, John Tierney, Edward Markey, Michael Capuano, Stephen Lynch, and William Delahunt.

At a December 2 meeting of rank-and-file activists and stewards held in Braintree MA, CWA President Larry Cohen described a "vicious attack" by telecommunications employers on our standard of living, right to organize and ability to negotiate collective agreements. To rousing applause, Cohen said that for the labor movement to defend its members' wages and working conditions -- or that of workers more generally -- would require "creating an army of stewards."

The Boston Children's Museum (BCM) is widely known for its commitment to the children of Boston. But this Christmas, the president of the museum, Lou Casagrande is acting like a big Grinch to workers at the museum.

More than 15 BCM employees (mostly part-time, low-wage workers)were told on December 2 that their jobs would be terminated shortly after the holiday when the museum closes for renovations. Further, despite their experience at the museum, they were told they would not be guaranteed employment when the museum reopens.

Just like they have done Sunday after Sunday, right after mass, for the past 4 years, the “sidewalk protesters” gathered once again in front of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston’s South End.

Except it is 1:30 on a Tuesday afternoon and today’s mass is not your usual Sunday one: Reverend John Dooher – a high-ranking chancery officer who coordinated sexual misconduct matters, alongside Bishop John McCormack- is being elevated to Auxiliary Bishop overseeing the Boston Archdiocese’s South Region. It is believed that as a coordinator, John Dooher helped create housing for abusive priests and by remaining silent about the issue, participated in covering-up the sexual abuse.

On Monday, December 4, 53 people from Cambridge and Boston attended a national demonstration at the Supreme Court sponsored by BAMN (By Any Means Necessary) in order to defend equal schooling for all children. The trip, sponsored by the Student Coalition for Justice at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), was initiated by students in Gary Orfield’s “Desegregation and the Possibility of Integration” class.

Israel has been controlling the entrances and exits to Gaza for the past months, preventing the population from receiving the humanitarian aid they so desperately need and creating a disastrous human crisis.

On Saturday, December 2nd, the International Day of Action to Stop the Siege of Gaza, Jewish Voice for Peace/Boston held a demonstration in Harvard Square, one of many JVP-initiated demonstrations in the U.S. in which members and supporters stood in solidarity with peace and justice groups in Israel, Palestine, and in more than 90 cities around the world who want to see this terrible disaster end and to ask for what should be a given: the respect of every human’s rights.